this is bbc new, i'm lukwesa burak with the latest headlines for viewers in the uk and around the world. authorities in berlin declare france a high risk area for coronavirus, requiring all travellers to be tested and quarantined upon arrival in germany. scotland's former first minister, alex salmond, launches a new pro—independence party to contest the holyrood elections in may. we intend to contribute to policy ideas to assist scotland's economic recovery and help build an independence platform to face new political realities. borisjohnson says he'll stand firmly by british citizens, who've had sanctions imposed on them by china, which accuses them of spreading lies about abuses of uighur muslims. and, ballet in the park —

dancers in new york have found a place to perform in the pandemic to the delight of passers—by. hello and welcome to our viewers in the uk and around the world. germany has imposed travel restrictions on france, declaring the country a "high risk" area for coronavirus infections. people arriving in germany from france will now need to show a negative covid test and go into quarantine. the country will deploy an extra 90,000 police officers at railway stations, airports, and toll booths on motorways, to prevent people moving between areas without permission.

as france deals with a surge of cases, its foreign minister accuses the uk of "blackmail", over its handling of coronavirus vaccine exports. france has called for the eu to implement tougher export controls whilst its own roll—out has struggled. in the uk, the latest figures show that there were 70 deaths of people within 28 days of a positive test and 6,187 infections reported in the last 2a hours. the number of uk cases is an increase of more than a thousand, compared to a week ago, as coronavirus infections level off in england, wales and northern ireland, and rise slightly in scotland. in germany, the robert koch institute has warned that the country could see 100,000 infections a day, if the third wave of coronavirus spreads unchecked, with fears that this could be

the worst wave so far. ur berlin correspondent, damien mcguinness, is following developments. i think it's a controversial step, really, because obviously, there is so much traffic, commuters, family across—the—board everyday between france and germany. now, germany has already imposed border restrictions and border controls on some of its borders, so we have already had border controls on parts of austria, the czech republic, slovakia. those regions have now been classed officially as high—risk regions as well, so that means they are going to be the same rule you just mention for france, which is you have to have a recent test before you cross into the country, but now, that will be the case for france. this is something that has been a political debate here for a while now, and there has been pressure growing on the government deciding

what to do on that border, because as the numbers have gone up in france, more and more people along the region, in the region along the border, have been worried that those infections are going to come over into germany. and now indeed the authorities have taken that step, and that's really because of the numbers. even though the numbers are growing up in germany, they are not going up as severely as in france. in germany, we havejust over 100 new infections per 100,000 people in the population over a seven—day period. that number is more like 300 in france. so, for now what that is there are going to be spot checks along the border. no plans as of yet for a checkpoint, but it will certainly impede travel, it will impede commuters. it could even impede trade. a big step, a big hit economically for these regions, but according to the authorities here in germany, it is necessary, really, to stop those high infections spreading into germany from france. while germany is trying to keep out new cases, there is already a rise in cases within the country and more younger people are ending up in hospital. german icu doctor kai zacharowski

has been describing the situation in his frankfurt hospital. the situation is getting worse. at the moment, the third wave definitely has arrived. what we see is now that the age of patients is younger than before. so, we have patients which are in the 20s, 30s, 40s and 50s. in the first and second wave, we had the elderly — over 70 or 80. so, there is a huge difference. the second important thing to recognise is, patients have a longer length of stay in the intensive care unit. so, now, we have patients on average staying for 16 days at the moment, we are still coping very well in germany because, as you know, we have the highest number of intensive care beds per 100,000. however, with the increasing numbers now in germany and today again, 22,000 new infections and an incidence rate of almost 120 on average in germany, it is only a matter of time that the beds, which are occupied

with these very sick patients, will be short at some stage. that is the reason why we have to take measures. everyone is tired of these restrictions. spring is coming, the question is, i think, it probably would be better to test people and to really make sure that if they have a negative test results, to have free powers. in fact, yes, it would help to have borders closed, everything closed, but we are human beings, we need also to have freedom. the world health organization is once again appealing to countries to donate their covid vaccines to poorer nations. it says covax, the global vaccine—sharing scheme, needs ten million doses urgently, so every country can start

innoculating, within the first 100 days of the year. covax aims to ensure 92 of the poorest countries in the world can access vaccines, with costs covered by donors. covax needs ten million doses immediately as an urgent stock up measure, so these 20 countries can start vaccinating their health workers and older people within the next two weeks. so, today, i'm asking countries with doses of vaccines that have who emergency use listing to donate as many doses as they can to help us meet that target. scotland's former first minister, alex salmond, has announced he is setting up a new pro—independence — political party to run in the scottish parliament elections in may. the surprise announcement, comes after a very public falling out with his former protege

and successor, nicola sturgeon, over her government's handling of complaints of sexual harrassment against him. the snp reacted to the news saying the interests of the country should not be obscured, by what it called, alex salmond's self interest, and questioned whether it was appropriate for him to return to public office. here's our scotland editor, sarah smith. today i'm announcing the public launch of new political force, the alba party. it's another comeback from alex salmond, this time as leader of a brand—new political party. ..seeking to build a super majority for independence in the scottish parliament. over the next six weeks we will promote new ideas about taking scotland forward, giving primacy to economic recovery from the pandemic and the achievement of independence for our country. despite the bitter personal feud between alex salmond and nicola sturgeon, he claims his new party is not out to steal snp votes.

he won't run candidates in constituencies. under the proportional representation voting system, msps are also elected from regional lists, and that's where alba candidates will be standing. the only people who benefit from i the creation of alex salmond's party are those who oppose independence. but we will double down, work hard, not take any votes for granted - and urge people to cast both votes for the snp — not everyone who supports independents support the snp. they do all want to elect as many pro—independence msps as possible, to pressure westminster into allowing another referendum. alex salmond's new party will split this vote, and his rivals think alba is driven more by his ego than by electoral strategy. this is the very public meltdown of a thoroughly disgraced individual. this is a man from scotland's past who is obsessively pursuing personal vendettas. he doesn't have anything positive to offer. alex salmond is less popular in scotland than borisjohnson. today's launch, plagued

with technical problems, was not the slick operation alex salmond was used to in the snp. almost exactly a year ago he was acquitted of 13 charges of sexual assault, although he did admit inappropriate behaviour with female staff when he was first minister. he has since accused people at the top of the snp of conducting a malicious plot to destroy him. now alex salmond has created a new platform from which to pursue his own agenda. 0ur scotland editor, sarah smith with that report. let's get some of the day's other news... a major report into the rwandan genocide has said france bore overwhelming responsibilities in relation to the killing of 800,000 people in 1994. the report by french historians though cleared france of being complicit in the killings — but said it had been blind to the preparation of the massacres. the taliban is threatening to resume hostilities against foreign troops

in afghanistan if they do not meet the deadline of may first to withdraw. this threat came after us presidentjoe biden said it would hard to withdraw the last us troops by the deadline, which was agreed under the trump administration last year. turkey's president says the country's withdrawal from a european treaty, designed to hinder violence against women is "a done deal". thousands of women have been staging protests calling on the government to revoke the decree. last week, mr erdogan abruptly pulled turkey out of the istanbul convention, which pledges to prevent and prosecute domestic violence, as well as promote equality. china has imposed sanctions on nine uk citizens including mps, peers, a lawyer and an academic who have all criticised china's treatment of its uighur minority population. the foreign secretary, dominic raab,

said the move wouldn't stop him and others speaking up against what he called, "industrial scale human rights abuses". there are about 12 million uighur in china — predominately muslims. china is accused of detaining up to a million of themin so called "re—education" camps in the province of xinjiang in the north west of the country. authorities in beijing have dismissed claims of abuse, as a plot by britain and the us, to destablise the chinese economy. here's our diplomatic correpsondent, james landale. this is the image china wants you to have of xinjiang. a mountainous paradise where everyone can live out their lives in liberty and prosperity. people from various ethnic groups live in concord, work in solidarity and develop in harmony, bending together closely like the seeds of a pomegranate.

but if you try to get past the propaganda videos, as the bbc�*s done in the past, there's a different perspective not everyone wants you to see. and that's one where allegations of human rights abuses against the uighurs are rife. of arbitrary detention, forced labour and sterilisation. so strong are these allegations that britain and allies announced sanctions on four top chinese officials responsible for camps like these. today, beijing retaliated, imposing travel bans and asset freezes on british citizens and organisations it accused of spreading lies. for some time, certain forces, bent on containment of china, have fabricated a large amount of lies of the century about xinjiang. the sanctions were aimed at five conservative mps including the former party leader, sir iain duncan smith, all of them vocal critics of china's government. as well as two peers, a lawyer and an academic

and a handful of campaign groups. few of those sanctioned appeared dismayed. speaking for the nine individuals who have been sanctioned, it's only going to re—fortify our efforts to call out china for the industrial scale human rights abuses going on in xinjiang, in tibet and elsewhere within china. it's intimidation of members of parliament to try to put them under pressure not to talk about what's happening in xinjiang. and i think that's the big issue we need to deal with internationally. how democracies deal with political interference. china's acting ambassador was summoned to the foreign and development office to hear of britain's displeasure and determination. if the chinese government - want to continue with these blanket denials, that nothing wrong is taking place in xinjiang, i the obvious thing for them to do would be to allow access - to the united nations. diplomats here at the chinese embassy dismiss all these allegations. they talk of anti—china forces fabricating these accusations to try and constrain their country. but amid the claim and counterclaim,

one thing is clear. the government's ambition of pursuing a more positive trade relationship with china is getting harder by the minute. the sanctions imposed by president xi were not unexpected, but they were unprecedented. the price paid for raising human rights concerns with the world's growing military and economic power. james landale, bbc news. stay with us on bbc news, still to come: the multi—billion dollar blockage — another day, another failed attempt to dislodge the container ship stuck in the suez canal. i'm so proud of both of you. let there be no more wars or bloodshed between arabs and israelis.

with great regret, the committee have decided that south africa be excluded from the 1970 competition. chanting. streaking across the sky, _ the white—hot wreckage from mir drew gasps from onlookers on fiji. this is bbc news, the latest headlines... germany declares france a high risk area for coronavirus — and tightens its border requiring all travellers to be tested and quarantined upon arrival.

scotland's former first minister alex salmond launches a new pro—independence party to fight the elections in may. at least 32 people have been killed, and more than 160 injured in egypt, in one of the worst train crashes there in recent memory. several carriages were derailed and overturned, when two passenger trains collided in the province of sohag. with more, here's david campanale. the aftermath of a another deadly crash on egypt's railways. in this incident, one carriage was seen being violently thrown into the air in a cloud of dust after a speeding train rammed into it from behind. inside one of the overturned carriages, these harrowing scenes were filmed just moments after the crash. from within the chaos

and the dust, cries for help were posted on social media. one woman said, "please, my son, help me." some people got out of the derailed carriages relatively unharmed, but many others caught inside were badly injured and needing rescue. translation: we need an official. to come and see what has happened. they cannot remove the people from underneath the trains. it's a shame. look at the children. we need a crane, but they said... people are dead. we can't even save the ones who are alive. around the wreckage, people gathered next to the overturned carriages to see what could be done. dozens of ambulances came to the scene to take the injured away, and inside, rescuers were deployed to help reach those survivors still trapped.

egypt's rail authorities say the crash occurred after unidentified passengers had activated emergency brakes in one of the trains, causing the one behind it to crash into it. the president, abdel fattah al—sisi, tweeted that there will be serious because consequences for anyone found responsible. this deadly collision is the latest in a string of major accidents on egypt's railways. they have been blamed on failures in maintenance and infrastructure. david campanale, bbc news. fresh attempts today to refloat the mega—container blocking the suez canal, have ended in failure. the vessel, the mv ever given, has been wedged across the canal since wednesday, causing major congestion and costly delays, in the delivery of goods and oil. 0ur science editor, david shukman, has been looking at what needs to be done, to get the ship afloat again.

how on earth do you try to budge something that weighs 200,000 tonnes? what about tug boats, shoving against the side? well, that was tried and it didn't work. the bow is jammed too deep into a bank of the canal. so this huge vessel, with its towering load of containers, still looms over the egyptian desert, paralysing a key artery in the network of global trade. so, what can be done? well, having another go with the tug boats while digging out the bank to free the bow, or using dredgers to clear away sand from under the ship to deepen the canal. that has now started, but if that doesn't do the job the next and most extreme option is to remove some containers to lighten the load, in the hope that the ship rises. this kind of thing has been done before, but it's never quick. a similar sized vessel also ran aground in sand and they successfully refloated her after excavating and with the support of tugs.

it took six days. what's extraordinary is how one ship can cause such a massive trafficjam. more than 230 vessels are now stuck and all this reveals how much depends on this vital link. about £7 billion worth of goods travel through it every day and in all it carries something like 12% of global trade, and all that hinges on getting one ship moving again. and as the waiting drags on there are other routes, much longer and much more expensive. so might the shipping industry have to go for them? to do so of course involves somewhere between seven, eight, to 12 days extra steaming, extra fuel consumption and so forth, but it is definitely an option. one of the other disadvantages is the weather conditions around the cape of good hope are very often quite severe, and of course the ships then would have to pass through the gulf of guinea area

which has been plagued by a very wearing level of piracy in recent years. all this will hold up deliveries to british ports like felixstowe, which might eventually affect consumers. a reminder of a trading system that we all just take for granted. it's a huge supply chain right from the manufacture in china right through to the shelf, and people just expect it to be there, and this has reallyjust highlighted just how fragile that supply chain is. there is one hope. a spring tide this weekend may raise the water level enough to free the ship, but no one is banking on that. david shukman, bbc news. working from home means different things to different people — perhaps nice weather means you could work from a nearby park. for ballet dancers in new york city — central park offers the perfect solution to still perfom while their studios are closed. the dancers say it brings them a sense of community — while the passers—by are astonished

and delighted, as tom brook discovered. music: jumpin�* jumpin�* by destiny's child. at his home in new york, james stretches on sunday mornings, he is preparing for his weekly ritual during the pandemic, travelling to central park to dance safely outdoors with fellow dancers. dance in the age of covid brings great reward. what a wonderful way to express yourself in kind of like a constructive way that's good for you, mind, body and spirit. turn your shoulder... this central park ballet class with live music has attracted both professionals and some novices. some of these people, this is their hour out of their apartment. they've just been cooped up for a year, and theyjust plan their whole week to come out here. now with the sun out, it's beautiful. we were dancing in the blizzards, danced in really cold weather. but we just piled through it.

try a little turn! passersby are startled when they come across the ballet performance. we've never seen anybody doing ballet in a park before. - it's very enjoyable. i didn't expected something like that to happen. many of these dancers are extremely talented, but the aim of the class isn't necessarily to perfect their artistry. it's not about that today. it's about gathering together with community, someone leading us through exercises that we know and love, and just really having a good time. that's what it's about. historically, adversity often leads to great artistic expression, and such is the case with dancers here in new york during the pandemic. the new york city ballet let four of its performers dance where only they could in outdoor locations to great emotional effect, delivering an homage to the city. # new york, may we have...#. i cannot wait to see what comes out

of this time, you know? we are in the trenches right now, practising and refining and keeping up with our class so as the creative inspiration happens, as we come out of this isolation, the art, it will bloom and change lives. the central park weekly ballet classes are one more example of new yorkers responding to challenges during the pandemic in the formal artistry that both participants and the public will enjoy. tom brook, bbc news, new york. let's bring you some live pictures from myanmar , where this saturday is armed forces day. it is the early hours of friday. we're looking at what appears to be a parade of military vehicles in the streets of naypitaw. the city has been the scene of daily protests since the army seized control on the first of february.

warning has been put out of a shoot to kill policy by the military. hello there. friday marked a change to our weather. we saw so much colder air move down from the northwest right across the country. so that means we are starting the weekend off on a chilly note but bright with some sunshine, then it will turn wetter and windier, particularly across northern and western areas. and gradually, it will be turning milder. it's looking very mild indeed as we head on into next week. so for saturday, then, we're in the cold air mass, as you can see. this is the milder air mass which will be making inroads saturday night and into sunday. we start this morning off with a bit of an ice risk across northern areas where we had overnight showers. it is a chilly start but bright, plenty of sunshine around, but into the afternoon, cloud will be thickening out west with some rain pushing into northern ireland, western scotland along with strengthening winds. now, temperatures after that chilly

start should reach 10—11 celsius for most. still, though, single figure values across scotland, 7—9 celsius. now into saturday evening and saturday night, it turns very wet and windy across the northern half of the country, some gales and exposure across the northwest, heavy rain for many, all but the southeast, which mayjust see one or two showers around, otherwise some drier interludes here. you'll notice a milder night to come for saturday night across the board, 6—8 celsius. part two of the weekend looks somewhat more unsettled. lots of isobars on the charts, so it's going to be windy. this weather front will straddle central—northern areas of the country to bring quite a bit of rainfall at times. so pretty wet through the morning for wales, northwest england, northern ireland, that rain begins to move a little bit further northwards affecting southern and also western scotland. it really will be piling into western scotland over the next few days. a gusty, windy day to come for most, generally dry with a little bit of brightness, though, across southern and eastern areas. that will allow temperatures

to reach 111—15 celsius with this slightly milder air mass and a double figure values starting to push and across scotland. into next week, it stays very wet across parts of scotland, windy here, too. but high pressure over the near continent will build, and that will settle things down, particularly so for england and wales. it's also going to usher in some very mild air across all areas, but it will be very noticeable across more southern parts, particularly where we have lighter winds and more sunshine around. so it could be very wet across the north and west of scotland, certainly through monday and tuesday. milderfor all, and it will turn warm in fact across southern areas, temperatures into the mid—twenties.

this is bbc world news,

the headlines... authorities in berlin have declared the whole of france a high risk area for coronavirus infections. all travellers from france will have to present a negative test result and quarantine upon arrival in germany. the world health organization is once again appealing to countries to donate their covid vaccines to poorer nations. it says covax, the global vaccine—sharing scheme, needs 10 million doses urgently. in a phone call, us presidentjoe biden and british prime minister, borisjohnson, expressed concern over what they called china's retaliatory actions — after 9 uk citizens who campaigned against human rights abuses were sanctioned by beijing. at least 32 people have been killed and more than 100 injured in a train crash in southern egypt. the country has suffered frequent rail accidents, due in part to poor maintenance and a lack of investment.